• origins of flight

    From jillery@21:1/5 to All on Sun Oct 30 16:35:19 2022
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

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  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Sun Oct 30 19:42:31 2022
    On 10/30/2022 4:35 PM, jillery wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>


    statistical confidence?

    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

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  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Oct 30 17:41:25 2022
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Oct 30 22:27:08 2022
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution
    required.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Sun Oct 30 22:29:30 2022
    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote: >>> The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution
    required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to Dale on Mon Oct 31 00:34:17 2022
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:29:30 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote: >>>> The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution
    required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    I have no idea what the above statement is supposed to mean.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Tue Nov 1 20:06:39 2022
    On 10/31/2022 12:34 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:29:30 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote: >>>>> The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution
    required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    I have no idea what the above statement is supposed to mean.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_assumption

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_inference

    as opposed to ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

    ???????


    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

    Facebook-> https://www.facebook.com/dalekellytoo/
    Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/dalekellytoo/
    Twitter -> https://twitter.com/dalekellytoo/
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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to Dale on Wed Nov 2 04:00:59 2022
    On Tue, 1 Nov 2022 20:06:39 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/31/2022 12:34 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:29:30 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote: >>>>>> The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth: >>>>>>
    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution
    required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    I have no idea what the above statement is supposed to mean.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_assumption

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_inference

    as opposed to ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

    ???????


    Specify how your cites explain your statement.

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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to Dale on Wed Nov 2 12:05:39 2022
    On Wed, 2 Nov 2022 11:30:59 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 11/2/2022 4:00 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Tue, 1 Nov 2022 20:06:39 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/31/2022 12:34 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:29:30 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which >>>>>>>> discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth: >>>>>>>>
    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution >>>>>> required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    I have no idea what the above statement is supposed to mean.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_assumption

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_inference

    as opposed to ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

    ???????


    Specify how your cites explain your statement.


    I am just getting further into statistics, feel free to correct ...

    "population" descriptions require statistical inference applied to a >"sampling"?

    "sampling" alone cannot describe a "population"?

    sometimes decisions have to be made?

    otherwise I will reserve the opportunity to challenge descriptions


    Feel free to take this opportunity to post a coherent challenge.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Wed Nov 2 11:30:59 2022
    On 11/2/2022 4:00 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Tue, 1 Nov 2022 20:06:39 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/31/2022 12:34 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:29:30 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which >>>>>>> discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth: >>>>>>>
    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution
    required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    I have no idea what the above statement is supposed to mean.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_assumption

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_inference

    as opposed to ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

    ???????


    Specify how your cites explain your statement.


    I am just getting further into statistics, feel free to correct ...

    "population" descriptions require statistical inference applied to a "sampling"?

    "sampling" alone cannot describe a "population"?

    sometimes decisions have to be made?

    otherwise I will reserve the opportunity to challenge descriptions

    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

    Facebook-> https://www.facebook.com/dalekellytoo/
    Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/dalekellytoo/
    Twitter -> https://twitter.com/dalekellytoo/
    YouTube-> https://www.youtube.com/@dalekellytoo
    GitHub -> https://github.com/dalekellytoo
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  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Wed Nov 2 12:58:16 2022
    On 11/2/2022 12:05 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Wed, 2 Nov 2022 11:30:59 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 11/2/2022 4:00 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Tue, 1 Nov 2022 20:06:39 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 10/31/2022 12:34 AM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:29:30 -0400, Dale <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>
    On 10/30/2022 10:27 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 17:41:25 -0700 (PDT), Daud Deden
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which >>>>>>>>> discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth: >>>>>>>>>
    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I guess just flapping-powered flight.

    Archae, bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, plant pollen have also taken to the skies, many long before the animal kingdom even got started. I've read that they initiate formation of precipitation in the sky, rather than dust.


    Yes, flight refers to powered flight. Anything small enough
    automatically drifts in the breeze or parachutes down, no evolution >>>>>>> required.

    statistical assumption/confidence ?


    I have no idea what the above statement is supposed to mean.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_assumption

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_inference

    as opposed to ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

    ???????


    Specify how your cites explain your statement.


    I am just getting further into statistics, feel free to correct ...

    "population" descriptions require statistical inference applied to a
    "sampling"?

    "sampling" alone cannot describe a "population"?

    sometimes decisions have to be made?

    otherwise I will reserve the opportunity to challenge descriptions




    Feel free to take this opportunity to post a coherent challenge.

    coherent

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coherent


    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

    Facebook-> https://www.facebook.com/dalekellytoo/
    Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/dalekellytoo/
    Twitter -> https://twitter.com/dalekellytoo/
    YouTube-> https://www.youtube.com/@dalekellytoo
    GitHub -> https://github.com/dalekellytoo
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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Nov 4 19:45:34 2022
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also
    supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    PS here is a link to the 2015 article about Yi qi in NatureResearch: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

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  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Nov 7 13:52:54 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also
    supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    PS here is a link to the 2015 article about Yi qi in NatureResearch: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur. This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Nov 15 09:58:16 2022
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also
    supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?


    <snip to get to your words, Daud>


    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur. This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2

    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the membrane,
    may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given the
    animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

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  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Nov 17 04:01:56 2022
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also
    supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the membrane,
    may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given the
    animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Nov 17 07:32:57 2022
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were
    also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given
    the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?

    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Thu Nov 17 15:28:55 2022
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were
    also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given
    the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    :~}
    Just you wait! We'll find them somewhere in Tibet!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to Daud Deden on Fri Nov 18 16:37:14 2022
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also
    supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    PS here is a link to the 2015 article about Yi qi in NatureResearch: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur. This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    -
    Manta ray butterfly bot flies fast or dextrously: https://techxplore.com/news/2022-11-butterfly-bot-fastest-soft-robot.html

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Sat Nov 19 00:56:18 2022
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were
    also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given
    the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.

    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Nov 19 09:14:47 2022
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were
    also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have
    given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?

    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Sat Nov 19 11:57:42 2022
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi
    were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have
    given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.

    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Nov 19 14:04:13 2022
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi
    were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have
    given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader
    chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons
    and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Sat Nov 19 19:53:41 2022
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 5:04:14 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi
    qi were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support
    the membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would
    have given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader
    chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons
    and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.
    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"?

    True, but hylobatids are arboreal bipeds and brachiators; chimps, gorillas & orangs are when weaned, young & active generally both arboreal bipeds & brachiators, though less predominantly so than hylobatids, when on the ground they can be bipedal but
    often go quadrupedal (often to prevent getting left behind by the group). Spider monkeys are pseudo-brachiators, they are generally quadrupedal except when carrying food bipedally.
    Similar facial functional features in the basic bauplan, eyes, nose, mouth, ears. Unlike eg. moles with skin covered eyes.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Nov 20 02:01:35 2022
    On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 14:04:13 -0800 (PST), erik simpson <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote: >> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi
    were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support
    the membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would
    have given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader
    chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons
    and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"?


    Daud Deden is using the same argument in two separate topics. I give
    him credit for consistency.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Nov 20 02:13:04 2022
    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 2:01:37 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 14:04:13 -0800 (PST), erik simpson
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >> > On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi
    qi were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support
    the membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would
    have given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader
    chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both
    gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"? Daud Deden is using the same argument in two separate topics. I give
    him credit for consistency.
    It started with Pandora at SAP, just kind of drifted here.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to Daud Deden on Sun Nov 20 07:56:05 2022
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 3:56:20 AM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were
    also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have
    given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?

    https://youtu.be/6uz_-_FE3UU short video of hoatzin using alternating wing/arm strokes to climb.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Nov 21 17:20:25 2022
    This is a twofer. First comes a direct reply to Daud's post immediately below, then a reply to a post by Daud on another thread:

    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 5:13:05 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 2:01:37 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 14:04:13 -0800 (PST), erik simpson <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:

    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader
    chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both
    gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"? Daud Deden is using the same argument in two separate topics. I give
    him credit for consistency.

    It started with Pandora at SAP, just kind of drifted here.

    The following started in SBP, and I hope you find it relevant here:

    Re: Today's News on Pterosaur Origins

    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 6:49:07 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 14, 2022 at 10:23:40 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:

    Fortunately, the following link opens a new door to the development of flight in some pterosaurs:

    Current Biology, VOLUME 31, ISSUE 11, P2429-2436.E7, JUNE 07, 2021:
    "A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb" https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00369-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982221003699%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
    Excerpt:
    "The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an
    arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of
    arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments."

    IIRC you showed interest in several of these themes earlier. It's a detailed research paper, open access.
    The critter has been named *Kunpengopterus.* The genus has been known since 2010, but this paper
    is about a new species, *K. antipollicatus*. [As you will immediately recognize, this refers to the true opposability of the "thumb".]


    Really amazing how much can be found out about these animals and their ecologies. The reversed thumbs show that grasping fully evolved, allowing not just compressional perching but tensional perching in forest canopy's stiff lateral winds. In hominoids,
    slow brachiation required long strong opposed thumbs, while fast brachiation did not, as hook-like hands predominate where fast swinging is advantageous, as in gibbons & spider monkeys.

    How would you like to -- as jillery might put it -- expand this comment to
    the same argument on a third separate topic?

    If not, I'll pick up the discussion on the original thread later this week.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina in Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daud Deden@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Nov 22 01:04:16 2022
    On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 8:20:27 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    This is a twofer. First comes a direct reply to Daud's post immediately below,
    then a reply to a post by Daud on another thread:
    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 5:13:05 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 2:01:37 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 14:04:13 -0800 (PST), erik simpson <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:

    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers,
    broader chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both
    gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"?
    Daud Deden is using the same argument in two separate topics. I give
    him credit for consistency.

    It started with Pandora at SAP, just kind of drifted here.
    The following started in SBP, and I hope you find it relevant here:

    Re: Today's News on Pterosaur Origins

    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 6:49:07 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 14, 2022 at 10:23:40 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:

    Fortunately, the following link opens a new door to the development of flight in some pterosaurs:

    Current Biology, VOLUME 31, ISSUE 11, P2429-2436.E7, JUNE 07, 2021:
    "A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb" https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00369-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982221003699%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
    Excerpt:
    "The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an
    arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of
    arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments."

    IIRC you showed interest in several of these themes earlier. It's a detailed research paper, open access.
    The critter has been named *Kunpengopterus.* The genus has been known since 2010, but this paper
    is about a new species, *K. antipollicatus*. [As you will immediately recognize, this refers to the true opposability of the "thumb".]


    Really amazing how much can be found out about these animals and their ecologies. The reversed thumbs show that grasping fully evolved, allowing not just compressional perching but tensional perching in forest canopy's stiff lateral winds. In
    hominoids, slow brachiation required long strong opposed thumbs, while fast brachiation did not, as hook-like hands predominate where fast swinging is advantageous, as in gibbons & spider monkeys.

    How would you like to -- as jillery might put it -- expand this comment to the same argument on a third separate topic?

    If not, I'll pick up the discussion on the original thread later this week. Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina in Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    I don't understand your request.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JTEM@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Nov 23 13:22:26 2022
    [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I dunno. Doesn't seem very informative.

    Personally, I had always held that powered flight was a selective
    adaptation for living creatures being swept up by the wind.

    So, insects: They're small, they get blown around... this is very useful... helps them to spread... radiate... but powered flight is a way for them
    to continue that advantageous activity even when there's no wind. And
    when there is wind, powered flight is a very useful means to prevent
    you from being dropped in the middle of a lake or out to sea...

    So, yeah, the cursorial model, says I.

    My biggest question about pterosaurs is where are the flightless species
    and what did they have for genitalia?

    Questions. My biggest questions (plural) are where are the flightless
    species and what did they have for genitals...





    -- --

    https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/679818106282098688

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Nov 30 10:58:08 2022
    On Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at 4:04:17 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 8:20:27 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    This is a twofer. First comes a direct reply to Daud's post immediately below,
    then a reply to a post by Daud on another thread:
    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 5:13:05 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 2:01:37 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 14:04:13 -0800 (PST), erik simpson <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:57:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:

    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers,
    broader chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both
    gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Bipedalism is not synonymous with brachiation. "Similar facial features"?
    Daud Deden is using the same argument in two separate topics. I give him credit for consistency.

    It started with Pandora at SAP, just kind of drifted here.
    The following started in SBP, and I hope you find it relevant here:

    Re: Today's News on Pterosaur Origins

    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 6:49:07 AM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 14, 2022 at 10:23:40 PM UTC-5, [email protected] wrote:

    Fortunately, the following link opens a new door to the development of flight in some pterosaurs:

    Current Biology, VOLUME 31, ISSUE 11, P2429-2436.E7, JUNE 07, 2021:
    "A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb"
    https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00369-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982221003699%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
    Excerpt:
    "The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an
    arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of
    arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments."

    IIRC you showed interest in several of these themes earlier. It's a detailed research paper, open access.
    The critter has been named *Kunpengopterus.* The genus has been known since 2010, but this paper
    is about a new species, *K. antipollicatus*. [As you will immediately recognize, this refers to the true opposability of the "thumb".]


    Really amazing how much can be found out about these animals and their ecologies. The reversed thumbs show that grasping fully evolved, allowing not just compressional perching but tensional perching in forest canopy's stiff lateral winds. In
    hominoids, slow brachiation required long strong opposed thumbs, while fast brachiation did not, as hook-like hands predominate where fast swinging is advantageous, as in gibbons & spider monkeys.

    How would you like to -- as jillery might put it -- expand this comment to the same argument on a third separate topic?

    If not, I'll pick up the discussion on the original thread later this week.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina in Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    I don't understand your request.

    Never mind about that for now. I'd like for you to look at the latest post
    I did on the thread, "Re: So Is Archaeopteryx a Real Bird After All?" today:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/4bG1D7uLcT0/m/NBHEpZx2AgAJ

    __________ excerpt, with John Harshman going first and me replying___________

    I will note that at least some specimens of Archaeopteryx have what look like
    flight feathers on the rear legs, though less prominently so than in Microraptor.

    "flight feathers" indicates a very noticeable lack of symmetry, making these feathers
    into miniature airfoils. AFAIK this need not indicate powered flight.
    It would seem that they would be at least as good for gliding.
    Would you agree, John?

    I'd also like to hear from Daud Deden on this. We've talked a lot about
    the difference between gliding and powered flight in the last two months or so.

    ================== end of excerpt =========================


    Hope to see you there, Daud.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics
    Univ. of South Carolina -- standard disclaimer-- http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to JTEM on Wed Nov 30 12:19:15 2022
    On Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at 4:22:27 PM UTC-5, JTEM wrote:
    [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>

    I dunno. Doesn't seem very informative.

    I don't think any sci.bio.paleontology regular would find it very informative.

    The "jillery" is not an s.b.p. regular by any means, nor is Dale.
    They were most recently brought to s.b.p. by the latest downtime of Beagle,
    the talk.origins robo-moderator, like insects blown to a new location by the wind:

    Personally, I had always held that powered flight was a selective
    adaptation for living creatures being swept up by the wind.

    So, insects: They're small, they get blown around... this is very useful... helps them to spread... radiate... but powered flight is a way for them
    to continue that advantageous activity even when there's no wind.

    That is considerably enhanced by the small flaps believed to have been
    on the thoraxes and abdomens of the earliest insects. One hypothesis is
    that those flaps were originally for thermoregulation, and some
    of the thoracic ones became exapted for powered flight.

    The abdominal ones may have continued to help, like the
    leg feathers of Archaeopteryx as detailed in the reply to Dauden
    that I did about an hour ago to this thread.


    when there is wind, powered flight is a very useful means to prevent
    you from being dropped in the middle of a lake or out to sea...

    So, yeah, the cursorial model, says I.

    Not sure how you narrow things down like this.
    How is running supposed to enhance the process we've described?


    My biggest question about pterosaurs is where are the flightless species
    and what did they have for genitalia?

    No fossils are known for flightless species of pterosaurs. But it's easy
    to *imagine* a gradualistic evolution of their wings that is no worse
    than neutral, natural-selection-wise. It's much harder for feathers
    or bat wings.


    Questions. My biggest questions (plural) are where are the flightless
    species and what did they have for genitals...

    I suppose the second question is motivated by your awareness of
    the dirty-mindedness of "jillery" and his/her sneering at the
    supposed "prudery" of people who point out this character trait
    without indulging in it themselves.

    Like a polemical prostitute, 'e worked the opposite side
    of the street when three people commented on the 69's
    in the jillery address 69jpil69 "at" gmail.com, claiming that
    this was all in their dirty minds. There followed the unverifiable
    allegation that 1969 was the year "jillery" graduated from high school.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    PS In case you are wondering, you have posted to sci.bio.paleontology
    often enough, with perhaps a majority of posts with substantial
    paleontological or evolutionary content, to be counted a regular here.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Popping Mad@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Sun Feb 4 08:47:35 2024
    On 2/1/24 12:35, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44 PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8,
    [email protected] wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson
    wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8,
    [email protected] wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5,
    [email protected] wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5,
    [email protected] wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4,
    [email protected] wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4,


    Why answer a 2 year old thread.


    [email protected] wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video >>>>>>>>>>> which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on >>>>>>>>>>> Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in >>>>>>>>>> the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its
    deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at >>>>>>>>>> least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi >>>>>>>>>> qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like >>>>>>>>>> other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated >>>>>>>>>> third finger, that appears to have helped to support a
    membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi >>>>>>>>>> were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the
    wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is >>>>>>>>>> unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in >>>>>>>>>> wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings >>>>>>>>>> might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of >>>>>>>>> any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, >>>>>>>>> with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown >>>>>>>> in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail >>>>>>>> and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify >>>>>>>> it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is >>>>>>>> a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone
    known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger >>>>>>>> and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb
    bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a
    calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered >>>>>>>> at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the
    elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly
    connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing
    membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This
    would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern
    bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the >>>>>>>> fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1]
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia
    article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex
    ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite >>>>>>>> close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice >>>>>>>> membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone
    makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present >>>>>>>> in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, >>>>>>>> and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like.
    Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between
    twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg.
    hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well,
    dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs
    boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the
    forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be
    selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few
    favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal,
    frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider
    monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths
    and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into
    something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering
    sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not
    that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but
    functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already
    have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features.
    Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots.
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their
    pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins
    could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke?  Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to.  Why would anyone try to breed some that could?  Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses?  After all, they work well for elephants.  I don't see any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would cooperate.

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  • From Popping Mad@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Mon Feb 19 20:09:31 2024
    On 2/14/24 17:43, erik simpson wrote:
    That's definitely a cute video, but I doubt the macaw will teach the
    monkey how to fly.


    They share 92% of their DNA ...

    You should see Wicked.

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